The Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development , Judith Nabakooba, has traversed areas of Kyankwanzi district in another frantic effort to stop the eviction of hundreds of residents from their bibanja holdings .
Minister ‘s Nabakooba ‘s timely intervention follows petions from residents who accuse a one -Geoffrey Sabiiti and Grace Kintu of attempting to evict them from their land in Lwengo and Kirimbi parishes in Bananywa Sub-county.
“This report is pertaining land conflicts between the community against Sabiiti Geoffrey and Kintu Grace. The matter of concern arises from the ill intentions of Sabiiti and Kintu attempting to survey and evict the residents from their Bibanja in the parishes of Lwengo and Kirimbu where they have lived for more than thirty years,” one of the petitions to the Minister reads in part .
Residents alleged that both Kintu and Sabiiti claimed to have acquired leases of the disputed land in 2009 without the community’s knowledge, and that their earlier attempts to lease the same plots of land they have lived on for many years were ignored by the district land board.
some of the affected worried residents
The disputed land includes Block 826 Plot 6 (located in Sinduula village) and another yet to be established plot of land in Kirimbi parish.
Nabakooba has since assured the residents that no one will be evicted from their land as the Ministry of Lands undertakes to investigate the matter. The minister commended the leaders for their commitment to serve the people and called on the residents to stay calm and strong until the matter is investigated.
“I heard most of the issues you have raised and I can assure you that the Lands Ministry will investigate the matter and get to the heart of it. I urge the residents to stay calm and strong. Just know the law protects you and no one can push you off your land without following the established legal procedures,” Nabakooba assured the worried residents .
“The Ministry of Lands is going to look into this matter and if we find out that the processes followed by accused to acquire the land were not the right ones, the land titles will be canceled,” she added.
Other affected villages in Kirimbi and Lwengo parishes include: Kilyabisoli, Sinduula, Kasubi, Kachungiro and Kidukulu Ntonzi.
The Member of Parliament (MP) Butemba constituency Kyankwanzi district, Binji Patrick Nyanzi, revealed to the minister that the district land board has for long been part of the problem and was inconsiderate to the residents. He said most land problems in the district have come as a result of impunity of the land board.
Nabakooba also visited Kiryamusunku village in Byerima Sub-county where residents alleged that unknown gun men showed up in 2013 and started to evict people claiming that the land is owned by someone who they said was never introduced to them .
Other troubled areas visited by the Minister included Kyenda parish, Butemba sub-county where a one Tarsis Sebukayire –said to be Burundian national attempted to evict people in the villages of Kabagaya A, Kabagaya B, Kololo, Kilyamakobe and Lubale.
There are more than 8,000 people living in the affected villages. While addressing residents of both areas (Kyenda parish and Kiryamusunku village), Nabakooba directed her office to find out how the accused “landlords” got land titles (in both Kyenda and Kiryamusunku).
The District Women Representative, Christine Bukenya, told the residents to be mindful of fraudsters who take advantage of vulnerable people.
